Title: The Search Is OnRating: PG-13Word Count: 2,314Characters: Dean, Xander, Buffy, Sam, Willow with an appearance from ParkerSummary: Sam escapes the room while Dean is distracted. Sequel to "The Effects of Alcohol".Timeline: Pre-series for Supernatural, set during the episode Beer Bad for Buffy.Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural. They belong to Joss Whedon and Eric Kripke.Notes: Two minutes to spare! Entry for week three's challenge at spn_btvs. Pretty much forget what happens in Beer Bad since everything happens a bit out of order in this though I did try to stick, in general, to what happens in the episode. And I blame Ava for this plot bunny who mentioned that she wanted to see Sam leave in search of Buffy while Dean was distracted. *g* Enjoy and feedback's always welcome!

Dean was not going to panic. He wasn’t. He was going to calm down, take a deep breath, and think of where the hell Sam could be. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to think of where Sam would go. It’s not like he’d get far.

Then again, Dean had thought that Cave Sam wouldn’t be going anywhere and that had just turned out so well.

Dean had thought that Sam was going to be a while in the bathroom since he seemed to be so fascinated by everything and had figured he had enough time to go into their Dad’s room and grab a few things to continue with his research of what had happened to Sam.

That, apparently, had been too much to hope for. Dean had come back to the room to find the bathroom empty and the door slightly ajar.

It just figured that even when acting like a caveman, Sam would still be smart enough to know he had to wait for the perfect moment before he could leave.

He walked outside and looked around, hoping for some sign that Sam was still in the area. There was nothing.

Think Dean. It’s right there in front of you. He sighed and turned, stopping when a group of girls caught his eye and he grinned before turning back to the room to grab the keys.

Sam had only wanted two things all night: beer and to go back and find Buffy, the girl from earlier.

He’d start at the bar first.

~*~*~

“Dean, right?”

Dean spun around to find Xander standing there, watching him and he mentally cursed himself for not paying more attention to his surroundings.

“Yeah.”

“You lose your brother?”

He frowned. “How’d you know?”

Xander gave him a half smile and a small shrug. “I get the feeling you wouldn’t be here without him if you hadn’t.” The smile turned sheepish. “Also, Buffy’s gone too.”

Dean’s frown deepened. “How did that happen?”

“She pretty much got away from us.” Xander shook his head. “I mean, Buffy’s pretty hard to stop when she’s sober, you know? Especially when she doesn’t want to do something. This time, she just…well, let’s just say I didn’t think she’d be as hard to stop when she was drunk.”

Turning over the events of the night over in his head, Dean tried to figure out what the common theme was here.

“Beer,” he blurted.

Xander eyed him warily. “You’re not turning into a caveman too, are you? Because I swear if another guy just starts randomly getting all hairy in the face, I’m—“

“Wait, what?” Dean interrupted. “What do you mean by that?”

For a moment, Xander looked as if he was going to try and get out of answering the question but then he sighed and tilted his head back to stare at the sky as if asking for help. “Okay, normally, I so wouldn’t take the time to answer this but since it’s probably going to be effecting your brother, I’ll tell you. The guys that Buffy drank with the past couple nights? I ran into one of them earlier and he looked different. He was hairy, I mean really hairy, and he was acting like a caveman in more than just words. Walking hunched over and everything.”

The only comforting thing about that entire sentence, Dean decided, was that Sam had only gone out drinking for one night. So it could have been worse. He sighed. “Great,” he muttered.

“So, you were saying something about beer?”

“The only thing I can think of that all of them have in common is that they were drinking beer. But I don’t see how that works since I drank beer tonight and I’m not acting like any of them.”

Xander thought for a moment and then Dean could practically see the light bulb go off over his head. “What kind of beer did you have?” he asked.

Immediately, Dean knew where he was going with that question. “Budweiser.”

“They were drinking Black Frost. Pitchers and pitchers of it.”

“So something was wrong with the beer.”

Xander held up his hands. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m not the one that touched it. I don’t even handle the beer until it gets behind the bar. Jack handles the beer when it comes in.”

There was dangerous glint in Dean’s eyes when he turned towards the bar. “Then what do you say we have a little talk with Jack?”

~*~*~

Somehow, it probably shouldn’t surprise Dean that the beer was technically cursed. Leave it to his brother to get drunk off cursed beer (and prove his theory that science and magic were evil because how else had the guy come up with that formula?). He shook his head, already moving towards the door as Xander finished ripping into his now former boss and followed him.

“If you want, the way to Buffy’s dorm cuts through most of the campus. There’s a good chance you’ll find your brother on the way.”

Dean nodded, accepting the offer, his worry for Sam increasing as they walked. He didn’t speak, didn’t ask the questions about why Xander hadn’t seemed too surprised to learn that magic had been involved, just kept his eyes open.

He didn’t want to take the chance that he might miss Sam because he was trying to figure out what was going on with this town in general.

“Buffy!”

Dean’s gaze snapped to the right and he sucked in a breath when he realized that they’d found Buffy but that Sam wasn’t with her.

“Xander.” Her eyes moved towards Dean and brightened. “And boy!”

“Yeah, we’ve established that he’s a boy.” Xander glanced at him and then turned back to Buffy. “Buffy, have you seen the boy’s brother? Not that you know they’re brothers. I’m kind of surprised you even remember him actually. Then again, why shouldn’t you? It’s only been a few hours.” As he said this, Buffy just continued to stare at him, the confusion on her face clear.

“Brother?” She looked from Xander to Dean and Dean decided to take it from there.

“My brother. You remember the boy from tonight?” He thought back to when Sam had been at the bar. “The boy at the jukebox?”

“Music boy.” Buffy smiled as she said it.

“Yeah. Music boy. Have you seen him?”

She shook her head. “Music boy.”

Dean fought back a sigh of frustration. Asking her questions was getting him nowhere. He opened his mouth to tell Xander he was going to leave so he could find Sam when Buffy interrupted him.

“Fire bad!” She pointed and took off running, Dean and Xander turning to see what she was talking about.

“Shit. The Grotto!”

Dean stared at the smoke and then broke into a run, Buffy and Xander not far behind him.

He had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly where he’d find Sam now.

~*~*~

“Sam!”

Sam turned to look at Dean briefly before turning back to the burning building with a frown on his face. “Dean. Fire,” was all he said. Dean put a hand on his shoulder and studied him, relieved that Sam still looked the same. He didn’t know why the formula hadn’t effected Sam the way it had the other guys and he didn’t really care.

“You okay, Sammy?”

Sam nodded and continued to stare at the flames until Dean pulled him back a few steps.

“Fire bad!”

Dean turned to see Buffy staring at the building. She paused as she saw something through the flames and then ran into the building. Dean’s eyes widened as Xander shouted at her to stop. Xander started after her only to stop when he saw what Buffy had.

“Willow,” he breathed, already searching for a way in.

“Dean.” Sam turned to him and Dean couldn’t remember the last time Sam had looked so confused. “Girl?”

He hesitated, debating on just getting Sam out of there before shaking his head. “Girl’s inside, Sammy.”

Sam frowned and looked as if he was about to say something when one of the windows crashed open. Xander turned toward the window, watching it for any sign of Buffy and a few minutes later, the guys from earlier at the bar climbed through, followed by two girls.

“Come on, Buffy,” he muttered. Dean glanced at him and then back at the window. He couldn’t really say why he was staying. It wasn’t as if he knew the girl. At least, not when she was sober and not under the effects of drugged beer. But he still needed to know what happened.

Suddenly, Xander rushed forward and Dean frowned until he saw why.

“Stay here, Sam,” he said, already moving to help.

“Dean get girl.” Sam looked at him and Dean paused to nod at him before going to help Xander pull the redhead through the window while Buffy pushed her from the inside.

She coughed as they pulled her clear of the window and Dean turned back only to find that Buffy had disappeared again. He swore and headed back to the window only to stop when Buffy reappeared. He reached forward and blinked when he saw that she was dragging an unconscious guy behind her.

“Come on,” he told her, cringing as he felt the heat getting closer.

“Parker bad,” she said, dragging him up so that she could try and push him out the window.

Dean raised an eyebrow as he saw how easily she picked him up before shaking it off and putting his hands under the guys arms and pulling. He glanced up when Buffy climbed through the window and stared down at the guy, holding a piece of wood in her hand.

“You know this guy?” he asked as he dragged him a bit further from the building.

“That’s Parker the Poophead,” the redhead said as she, Xander, and Sam walked up to them.

“In Willow-talk, that means meet the guy who was the reason Buffy decided to drown her sorrows in beer,” Xander added.

Dean glanced down at the guy, Parker, and then back at the three friends before shaking his head. “Well, okay then.”

“Girl,” Sam declared with a smile as he saw Buffy.

“Oh hell. Don’t tell me I’m going to have to deal with some weird ass crush on Cave Girl now.”

“If it helps, just think of how embarrassed they’ll both be when they start acting like themselves again. Probably won’t ever want to see each other again,” Xander offered.

“Or it’ll be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Willow said. They looked at her. “What? It might!”

Dean nodded. Somehow, he could see it. Sam seemed to be fascinated by the girl and knowing his brother, he’d just get all awkward around her about everything that had happened tonight until there was nothing more for them to do but be friends.

Parker stirred and groaned as he sat up and looked around him, holding a hand against his head. He paused when he saw Buffy. “Buffy,” he said, standing up. “Can we talk?” When she only stared at him, he took her arm and started to walk her away from the group.

“This isn’t some new way to try and get her to…to…do stuff with you, is it?” Willow demanded.

“No.”

“Well…” She and Xander exchanged a look before she turned to Parker and nodded. “Okay. But we’ll be right here and if you even try anything like what you did before, I’ll go find a shovel and beat you to death with it.”

Dean smirked as the guy nodded and walked far enough away where they couldn’t hear what was said. From the looks of it though, the guy was going into some elaborate speech while Buffy just continued to stare at him. Once he was done, they all waited to see what would happen and Dean couldn’t stop the laugh from escaping when Buffy hit him over the head and walked back towards them.

“Parker bad,” was all she said.

Dean looked around and frowned when he noticed something. “What happened to the other guys?”

“Who, the cavemen? I locked them in that van over there while you were helping Buffy with Parker.” Xander motioned behind him and Dean nodded as Sam stared at Willow.

“Pretty,” he declared, smiling at her. Willow’s eyes widened.

“Is he talking to me?” she asked. Dean nodded. “Oh. Well, um, that’s sweet and all but I have a boyfriend. Also? I don’t know your name anyway.”

“Right! Sorry. Willow, that’s Dean and his brother Sam. As you can see, Sam had some of the beer too.”

“Okay, now what do you say we get Buffy and Sam away from people before something else happens? Giles is already going to have my head. I mean, he was already mad that I gave Buffy beer but when he finds out that I gave her evil beer, he’s going to flip.” Xander turned towards Buffy. “And you, young lady, what have we learned about beer?”

Buffy looked up at him. “Foamy.”

Dean grinned as Sam nodded in agreement.

“Well, as long as you learned something.”

As they began to walk, Dean looked at each of them and made a decision. “So, when we get inside, why don’t we start by talking over why no one seems surprised about all the weird things that happen around here.”

Xander stared back at him before exchanging another look with Willow. She nodded, as if giving him some sort of signal, and he turned back to him. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”

Heee! Thanks hon! *g* Can't you just picture it happening? Young Sammy getting drunk and going caveman and Dean being all big brother-y and annoyed all at the same time while Buffy grunts and Xander and Willow babble and Giles cleans his glasses (and is thankful he didn't get a concussion)?

.....no, I haven't given the idea any thought. What are you talking about? ~_^

*sigh* I miss snarky!Logan too. *loves on queen_haq's fics for keeping him alive* And yay! You like my Dean voice! Dean's fun to write. *nods*

Oh c'mon you can't stop there. you're rocking this verse. Really I have never seen the shows crossed like this and its just so brillant, you should keep going cause you have the makings of a full length story going on with either a Buffy/Dean pairing or a Buffy/Sam, I loved how Dean figured Sam would react to Buffy after all this and I want to see it, please.

LOL, well there'll be more but I'm not sure if there'll be more of this 'verse or not. After all, I've got plenty of others to play with. *g* On the other hand, I'll probably revisit this 'verse since it's so fun to write. Just not sure when.

Really I have never seen the shows crossed like this and its just so brillant

Krystal, you know how to make a girl grin with happiness, you know that? And no idea on what the pairing will be or if there'll be a pairing eventually because I know I've left room for Buffy/Dean, Buffy/Sam, Sam/Willow...oh the possibilities! Right now though, I've got an idea for a body!swap fic. *g*

No need to whisper here. This is a Buffy/Sam friendly journal. And actually? I'm leaning towards doing that if I do ever write more in this 'verse. (Matter of fact, I'm writing one with Buffy/Sam in it right now, lol.) *g*

So glad that you liked this and thought it was funny because this 'verse has been so much fun to write. Especially cave!Sammy and Dean dealing with him. Hee.